SAN ANTONIO -- VIA Metropolitan Transit on Thursday introduced a prototype of a new bus that will one day transport passengers in San Antonio.

The Bus Rapid Transit vehicle will be used for routes between downtown and the Medical Center, VIA officials said.

Currently, a trip from the Medical Center to the Main Library takes about an hour. The new buses are expected to shorten that commute by about 10 minutes.

To accommodate the 60-foot long hybrid buses, VIA plans to build a bigger transit station at Medical Drive and Babcock Road.

The new buses, which will arrive in 2012, will hold about 20 more passengers than the buses VIA currently uses. The buses' larger size and extra doors should allow for quicker loading and unloading.

"Entering and exiting the bus will be much easier," said Sidney Orway, a VIA Board member. "Being a hybrid, it accelerates much more quickly."

VIA plans to buy 15 of the buses, which cost about $1 million each.